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Ahead of a historic Supreme Court decision on the fate of Roe vs. Wade, the nation recorded its first significant increase in the abortion rate in more than three decades, according to new statistics. The rate rose 7%, from 13.5 abortions per 1,000 women and girls of child-bearing age in 2017 to 14.4 in 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights. Overall, there were 930,160 abortions in the United States in 2020, up 8% from 862,320 in 2017. (Haberkorn and Reyes, 6/14)

Medication abortions, the two-drug combination sometimes called the “abortion pill,” accounted for 54% of U.S. abortions in 2020, the first time they made up more than half of abortions, the report from the Guttmacher Institute said. (Johnson, 6/15)

The study, released Wednesday, didn’t determine the exact reasons for the reversal but pointed to several potential factors. Some states expanded Medicaid coverage for abortion and funds that help pay for the procedure expanded capacity, potentially increasing access, researchers said. A Trump administration policy stripped federal dollars from clinics that refer patients for abortions, which clinics said affected contraceptive care. (Calfas, 6/15)

Abortions are still far less common than they were 30 years ago. In 1981, when the U.S. population was significantly smaller, about 1.6 million abortions were recorded, per Guttmacher’s records. That represented a peak, and the number has steadily declined. Since 2011, fewer than a million abortions have been performed per year. It’s not clear what is behind the 2020 increase. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic could have discouraged people from giving birth, Nash said. Policies embraced by the Trump administration resulted in fewer clinics providing family planning services for low-income people, which could have resulted in more unintended pregnancies and a greater need for abortions. (Luthra, 6/15)